See what’s happening in the Department of Design, including our faculty events and exhibitions, lectures, awards, research, study abroad programs, graduate and alumni honors, and more. Read about department news here. Visit Student Opportunities for current job and internship postings, design competitions, and announcements.
All Design faculty, staff, students and alumni are welcome to contribute news items of interest, event dates and announcements. Please send your news and announcements to artswebhelp@ucdavis.edu.
“Weaving and Woodwork: A Scandinavian Design Partnership” celebrates the long and distinguished careers of UC Davis design professor emeritus Helge Olsen and his wife Birgitta Olsen. The exhibition combines Helge’s wood furniture design with Birgitta’s woven wall tapestries, which reflect their Scandinavian upbringing, training and design aesthetic.
Susan Taber Avila, professor of Design, recently participated in the World of Wearable Art competition, held in Wellington, New Zealand. Her “In Bloom” creation was a finalist in the awards competition and was included in all of the 2018 30th anniversary performances for this annual event.
A team of students representing UC Davis took the Biodesign Challenge for the first time and came away with the Outstanding Science Award and was runner up for the top prize at the event. Team Sorbit from UC Davis, which included design and economics double major Julie Xu, created a diaper of bacterial cellulose with enhanced absorbency and biodegradability. The event was recently held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Join Jennifer for the installation event of her MFA thesis project: LUMENroute! For one night only the Walnut Park Tunnel in South Davis will come alive as a series of motion-activated light fixtures surround participants with color and light. Then take a moment to enjoy a beautiful evening in the park at the LUMENroute seating area, glowing with light, color, music, and laughs! This project has been created with the support of the City of Davis Arts and Culture Affairs Fund Award and the CITRIS Connected Communities Initiative Mini-Grant.
Kausalya Raman, a second-year Design and Economics double major at UC Davis, has received a scholarship from the Donald A. Strauss Foundation for her project, English Kadhavu, which helps students in India to become more proficient in English and better prepare them for university.
Beth Ferguson, assistant professor of design, has won an Austin Green Award for the creation of a solar charging station in the city of Austin. Ferguson’s firm Sol Design Lab was the driving force of the project.
The completed project, Electric Drive: The Future of Renewable Energy Mobility, is located on West 2nd Street in Austin.
Design innovation in the Product Design Lab recently found students re-purposing recycled campus street signs into furniture. Under the guidance of Beth Ferguson, assistant professor of design, the students in the new course, DES165 Studio Practices in Industrial Design, created tables, chairs, lighting fixtures and bike racks out of the discarded signs.
Katia Vega, assistant professor of design, was part of the team whose project, The Dermal Abyss: When Tattoos meet Biotechnology, won an Interactive Innovation Award. The collaborative project included team members from MIT Media Lab and Harvard Medical School.
There will be an exhibition featuring the work of the Design Students from the course Design 171 Fashion illustration at the Davis Public Library on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 7 pm to 8:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The Mary L. Stephens Library is located at 315 East 14th Street in Davis.
A UC Davis design student team was selected as one of six national finalists in the SOFA Chicago CONNECT Competition in November 2017. UC Davis was the only California school among the prestigious design program finalists.
The UC Davis design team consisted of Victoria Chau, Sierra Kennedy, Jessica Jade Lam and Sandra Bae.
Susan Taber Avila, professor of design, has made invaluable contributions to a new book series on fiber art. “Artistry in Fiber” by Anna Lee and E. Ashley Rooney is a three-book series which includes a volume titled “Wearable Art” featuring a foreward by Avila. In addition, examples of Avila’s work appear in all three books.
Brett Snyder, associate professor of design, and Beth Ferguson, assistant professor of design, are part of a group selected for a year-long project bringing together local residents, public officials and experts to develop projects to strengthen resilience to sea level rise, severe storms, flooding and earthquakes.
While at UC Davis, Christina Johnson learned the university’s commitment to innovation and sustainability. As a proud Aggie, Johnson has developed a business Upcycle It Now, which has encompasses that theory.
While majoring in Design it was at UC Davis that Christina took her first class in sustainability with Ann Savageau. From then on she knew sustainable design was her calling, so she is proud to circle back and be able to upcycle a piece of her campus she holds in such high regard.
Presenting the work of undergraduate seniors, “Moving Out, Design by Design Undergraduate Senior Showcase” is an annual juried exhibition that celebrates the breadth, talent, creativity and multidisciplinary coursework from the Department of Design.
What are you doing these days? We want to hear about your life since you graduated with a Design degree. Are you working, attending grad school, or starting a family? Please fill out this form to tell us about your travels, accomplishments or future plans. If you have a website we would like to post a link to that as well.
